Double Trouble
by ReaperCB919
Summary: Inspired by CordeliaHalliwell's Bloodline. What happens when two of the scoobies find out about their real family?


_Authors Note/Disclaimer: First things first. I was reading the other day and came across a story called bloodline by CordeliaHalliwell, which I suggest reading. It was very good. Now, it hasn't been updated in a while, and of course, I'm not one to talk on that, but it got me thinking about how I would have done things on that story. So, this is my attempt at the same premise. Two of the scoobies find themselves related to a witch certain witch, and a very memorable Upper Level demon._

_That said, I own nothing. I don't own Charmed, or Cole wouldn't have died. I don't own Buffy, or... you know, there's a whole list of things I would have changed, which you'll see some of in this fic. I don't own the name Belinda Maclay either, since I don't think Tara's mother was ever named in Cannon, I used the name that CordeliaHalliwell used as well as her choice on their Birthdays, since it was originally her idea._

_Now, on with the story._

* * *

**Sunnydale,**

**September 16, 1997**

Giles looked up as the door to the library opened, admitting Xander and Willow. A few seconds later, Buffy was followed in by Cordelia, the latter complaining about being forced into research. Giles just shook his head trying to ignore the May Queen's nature as he returned his attention to the reason for this meeting. He looked around, another moment before turning to his Slayer.

"Buffy, will Angel be joining us this evening?" The Watcher was curious as to how reliable the vampire would be, despite his soul.

"He'll be here later, he had to go to the butcher shop..." Buffy said, "But what are we here for? I haven't noticed anything unique on patrol."

"Uh... this one is kinda my fault, Buff..." Xander spoke up.

"Xander, am I to understand you haven't told them?" Giles let his shock show on his face.

"Uh... no... not yet. I kinda wanted you here for that G-Man, cause this is kinda wig-some..." he looked over at Buffy, "And the.. uh... last time something even close happened, I wasn't exactly myself."

"Oh god Xander you aren't possessed again are you because that would be bad and with the black leather and the attitude and the..."

"WILL!" Xander put his hands on her shoulders, carefully, "Chill... no... I'm not possessed... I don't think, and Giles said he agreed with me."

"Quite... Xander expresses none of the signs of possession. Actually, it's closer to a... Hmm... if he were younger, I'd say of a half demon going into puberty, but he's well into that already and showed no signs of demonic legacy, and both his parents are human." Giles shook his head.

"Actually, I'm adopted..." Xander said, then mumbled, "Not that they treat me very well anyway."

"So, the half-demon thing is still possible?" Buffy asked, concerned, "I can't slay Xander, Giles."

Giles just smiled while Xander looked a little worried now, "Not to worry, Buffy, as I said, he's too old, and besides, half-demon means half-human. While he might have had a few more... darker impulses, he would still retain his soul and of course his choice of whether to act on those impulses or not."

"That's all great and everything, but you still haven't told us what the loser is going through, just what it reminds you of." Cordelia pointed out.

"OH! Quite right," he turned to Xander, "Xander, if you would?"

"Sure G-Man." Xander sighed and thought for a moment.

"It started about a week ago, maybe a little longer but I really NOTICED about a week ago." Xander said, thinking carefully, "It was when we got ambushed by those vampires in Wilkins Cemetery. I punched one, and... he felt it." They just looked at him, all but Giles who knew what he was getting toward. Sighing that they didn't seem to understand he tried again, "He acted like Buffy hit him."

"Come again?" Cordelia said.

"Yea, I know... it shocked me to, that's when he hit me because I was surprised and that's when Buffy staked him."

"So... you're stronger now?" Buffy asked.

"At first I thought it was just adrenaline, which is why I didn't say anything, but... well," He walked over to one of Buffy's training weights, and lifted it easily. "After I crushed my doorknob and broke the frame of my door out trying to leave my room... I had to concede something was up." He set it down gently and walked back, "I'm also running a slight fever, but I feel fine... like my core temperature is just hotter than a normal persons."

"Ok, this is wiggy." Cordelia said.

"Yes, Cordelia?" Giles looked at her.

"Well, I had a checkup the other day, and the doctor said I was running a fever, but it was only slight, and I've been noticing I'm getting... faster." Cordelia said.

"Faster?" Buffy asked.

"In gym, my running times are getting to... Olympic level, and I'm not breaking a sweat." Cordelia said.

"That's... odd. Well, since this confirms it can not be a... demonic puberty even more since if it were you'd have to be related,"

"EEEEWWWWW! Me? Related to the doofus? Never, no way, no how, even if I were adopted, which I'm not, it isn't possible." Cordelia shuddered.

"Gee, thanks Cor, and here I was hoping for a sister all my life... I almost get one, finally, and all I can think is... thank god we were wrong." Xander smirked.

"Hmph! Whatever dweeb boy." Cordelia snarked back.

"If I could continue, this confirms it's more likely something else that is occurring." Giles said, "It's far more likely that an outside force is causing these changes. I want all of you to look for... effects like Xander and Cordelia have described, or beings or things that could empower a person."

With a groan from Buffy, and surprisingly none from Cordelia and Xander, they all started to look through the books he had arranged on the table, hoping for some insight into what had happened to two of the Scoobies.

**BtVS ... Charmed ... BtVS ... Charmed ... BtVS ... Charmed ...**

**Smallstown, Utah**

**September 16, 1997**

"Tara..." The weak voice of the woman in the bed called to her daughter.

"Mom..." The shy blonde girl grabbed the weak, withered hand of her mother.

"Did you cast the spell like I taught you, Tara?" The older woman smiled.

"Yes, Mama..." She looked at the door, "Daddy and Donny won't be able to interrupt us till it comes down."

"Good baby." She squeezed her daughter's hand, "I'm dying Tara, I won't last the night, I can feel it... before I go though, there are things you need to know..."

"No Mama..." The young blonde leaned in and hugged the elder woman tightly as she started to cry a bit, "Let me heal you, Mama... please..."

"I wish you could baby, if only to stay with you... but... even your talent can't heal cancer, not even a Whitelighter could heal me now." The older woman smiled at her, "And don't ask about taking the pain away either... you'll need your strength for what you need to do."

"What's that Mama?" Tara asked.

"First, you need to know... you're not a demon of any kind, Tara. No matter what your brother and father say." The woman coughed for a minute but settled and started again, "We're witches, yes... but we're good witches." She smiled at Tara, "Your healing should tell you that."

"I know Mama, you and Gran tried to tell me that before, but Daddy wouldn't let you." Tara said, smiling.

"Good girl," She squeezed her daughter's hand again, "But there are real demons out there... and you need to be careful of them, especially with what I have to ask you to do."

"What is it Mama?"

"Just after you were born, I had an affair. I managed to hide it from your father with help from my lover, and from your Gran. I thought I'd finally get to leave him, but... something happened, and I found out that the person I was seeing was a demon. He'd been sent to seduce me and father a child so they would have the powers of a demon, and a witch, powerful agents of evil."

"I didn't find that out though, till after I was already pregnant. I couldn't let two of my children, even half demon children, be brought up to be evil. I had to protect them... and you, so that you weren't tempted by evil as well. It's why I've never told you any of this." She smiled, "Imagine my shock when their father decided to help me do it."

"I don't understand Mama..." Tara's confusion was obvious at her mother's words.

"The demon may or may not have wanted them to be evil, that's hard to decide, and I'm still not sure, but I know he did not want them raised by the Source. I bound their powers, all of their powers, and we hid them away together. He brought me back to you, and left to tell his master that I had vanquished them."

"Why tell me now, Mama?" Tara was worried at this, and excited to have a sister and brother she'd never met, who might love her and not treat her like her father and brother.

"When I die tonight, their powers will become unbound, I've already felt the spell binding them weakening as I get weaker... my magic fighting, concentrating itself to keep me alive. It can't last any longer though. I'm going to use the last of my magic to split my power between the three of you, and forcefully break the binding. I'll die when I do that, Tara, and I want you headed back home when that happens. While your brother and father start seeing to my arrangements, I want you to be packing up so you can be gone when they get home. Break into your father's room, and look in the back of the closet for a big, blue, leather bound book with a tree emblem on it."

"It's our family Book of Shadows, and it belongs to you and your brother and sister now..." She smiled, "Take it and go to Sunnydale, look for your brother and sister there. Alexander and Cordelia."

"Mama..." Tara was crying now, not wanting to lose her mother as she hugged the dieing woman tightly.

"Make sure they're good Tara... make sure that they aren't tempted by their demon sides, but don't make them hate that part of themselves. They can use every part of their heritage, and still be good," She kissed her daughter, "Now go on, I have to prepare to break the binding."

"Yes... Mama..." Tara kissed her mother goodbye, then walked out of the room, making sure to keep the spell in place till it felt the life inside pass on.

**... BtVS ... Charmed ... BtVS ... Charmed ... BtVs ... Charmed ...**

**San Francisco California**

**September 16, 1997**

The grandfather clock exploded in a blast of wood, gears, brass, and glass as Prue's hand swept across the room, launching the demon into it. Her eyes roamed the room quickly before seeing another demon coming up behind Piper. Another sweep of her arm launched a vase from a table into its head, startling it and giving her sister a chance to freeze it. She rushed to her sister as the demons shimmered away. Both sisters ran up the stairs toward the sound of more fighting. The reached the attic to see Phoebe kick a demon into Cole who stabbed it with an athame. The demon erupted into flames as it was vanquished.

"Are there anymore?" Phoebe asked Prue, looking to her older sister.

"The ones downstairs shimmered away..." Prue answered, scanning the room again.

"Leo's going to have a lot of things to fix downstairs though." Piper put in.

"Well, we'll just tell the demons not to break so much stuff next time." Phoebe teased.

"I'm surprised they ran..." Cole said, "Unless they were just trying to get a read on..." Cole trailed off as he looked off into the distance, his eyes wide as he felt something he'd all but forgotten about, something he hoped would never happen, "Oh no..."

"Cole, what's..." Just as Phoebe started to ask, a demon shimmered in right behind Cole, athame raised to strike, "COLE!"

The dark haired man turned, the just as the demon was about to strike and blocked it with his arm before reflexively firing an energy ball into the black skinned beings chest, vanquishing him.

"AH! My arm.." He winces as he nursed the cut on his arm, then looked back out into the distance, "Why.. why now?" He winced again.

"Cole! Are you okay? Piper... get the first aid kit please." Phoebe said as she rushed to her boyfriend. Prue took up guard next to them and Piper went for the first aid. "Now what's going on? You spaced out. You didn't even realize you were being attacked."

"I... sensed something that... I'm going to tell you, and you're going to be mad, and I don't blame you. I just ask that you remember I WAS evil back then, and I HAVE changed now." He held Phoebe's hand.

"What did you sense?" Prue asked, satisfied that the threat was over for the moment as Piper came in with the first aid kit.

"My son and daughter's powers becoming unbound, very suddenly." He said then closed his eyes waiting for the yelling.

"SON AND DAUGHTER! YOU HAVE CHILDREN!" Phoebe yelled, squeezing the wound she was bandaging. Prue and Piper just looked shocked.

"Yes, and it gets more complicated, I'm afraid." Cole said, sighing and taking the first aid kit to see to his own wound as he continued.

"It happened sixteen, almost seventeen years ago. The Source had found a powerful line of witches, and normally he'd have sent me to... end the problem. This time, he had another plan though, since they aren't... the family was contained where they were, and weren't a threat to us. He sent me to seduce the witch, Belinda Maclay, and attempt to father at least one child with her. Half-demon, half-witch, with the power of both." Cole said.

"And it worked? So the Source has a pair of evil raised demon warlocks?" Prue asked.

"NO!" Cole shouted, then his eyes softened, "Sorry, but... even when I was evil, there was no way I was going to allow my children to be raised by the source, and Belinda wasn't going to allow her children to be evil."

"I didn't love her, I won't lie and claim to, I was still evil then and it was more that I refused to allow the Source to have what I saw as rightfully mine, and maybe some parental care, but I wouldn't kill the mother of my children either." Cole looked off into the distance. "I was called away before the birth, the Source wished me to kill a rival demon, and of course I had to comply. I returned to the Source from that mission just before their birth."

"Twins, a boy and a girl. The Source told me to collect them, and I was furiously trying to come up with a plan to foil the Source. Belinda already had one to foil me, not knowing I didn't want to turn them over any more than she did." Cole's smile was part smirk.

"She bound their powers..." Phoebe realized.

"Until she decided to unbind them, or her NATURAL death. If she'd been killed by a demon or even murdered by a human, any death other than a natural one would have resulted in their powers being bound until a witch of greater power unbound them." Cole said, "That wouldn't have been enough though, since the Source might have found a powerful evil witch willing to do it for the right price."

"What did you do?" Piper asked, trying to think of something.

"I shimmered her and the children somewhere the Source wouldn't be able to sense them unless he was actively looking, and even then, with their powers bound they'd be invisible to him. We put them up for adoption, and I shimmered her back to her home, where she went back to her husband and daughter."

Phoebe looked upset and hurt, "Why haven't you told me about it before?"

"It wasn't that I was hiding it from you, Phoebe, and I probably would have told you at some point before we ever, if we ever..." He tried, and she nodded understanding, "I did my best to hide them so they wouldn't be found by the Source, or the Elders. I didn't want either side getting them. I do my best not to think about it most of the time, because unless... well at the time it was unless I overthrew the Source, but unless we beat the Source there was nothing I could do for them. Now though, since Belinda is dead and their power is unbound, they'll show up on everyone's radar..."

The white and blue lights floating into the attic from the ceiling turned everyone's attention that way as the 'orbs' coalesced into a worried Leo, "Piper, we have a problem. The Elder's just registered a MAJOR spike of demonic energy. They want us to go vanquish two very powerful demons who just appeared in..."

"Sunnydale, The Hellmouth." Cole interrupted.

"That's right, how did you know?" Leo looked puzzled as the girls just turned to stare at Cole.

"Because that's where I hid my children."

**... BtVS ... Charmed ... BtVS ... Charmed ... BtVS ... Charmed ...**

**Sunnydale High Library**

**September 16, 1997: Just as the binding broke**

Angel was walking into the library from the back when he heard the screams come out of nowhere. He rushed through the stacks and to the front of the library just as things truly started to happen. Xander and Cordelia shot away from their seats screaming at the top of their lungs as light, shadow, and energy seemed to flow around them. Then orbs of golden white light flowed into the room through the ceiling as energy from the Hellmouth burst from the floor, and both struck them at the same time.

The two continued to scream as their bodies started to shift back and forth between human, and something else. Their skin turned a dark blue, and red tribal markings covered them, spreading from their eyes. Xander's hair vanished into his skull, and both of them gained pointed ears and pupil-less white eyes. Their clothes shifted with them, Xander's becoming black pants and boots with a black vest that showed that the red lines flowed over his chest and arms and down into his pants. Cordelia wore leather pants, tighter on her now more muscular frame and a tight leather corset top. Her long black hair bled a dark blue and two red streaks ran back along it just as they ran back over Xander's now bald head.

Still screaming the two rapidly changed back and forth. One moment they were human, the next they were twin demons, and then they switched back. Finally both of them shifted into their demonic forms before falling unconscious on the ground.

The remaining Scoobies just stood their, staring in wonder at the unconscious duo. Angel walked toward them slowly, trying to figure out not only what he was seeing but what his senses were telling him as he stared at the two. He hadn't seen anything like this before. The closest he could even think of at this point was an upper level demon from his time as Angelus. His senses though were telling him something even more confusing.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Buffy's voice broke the silence, startling them all out of their shock.

"Yes... uh... quite.. right.. we should..." Giles stuttered.

"Put them on something comfortable, because it wouldn't be right to let them stay on the floor and oh god, Xander's some kind of demon, and I hope he isn't evil, because I don't know what would happen if he were evil, and Buffy you'll have to slay him and that can't happen it just isn't right..." Willow babbled out.

"Willow, don't worry, he's... still Xander, I'm sure... just... less Xander shaped." Buffy looked at the two of them, then went and picked Cordelia up.

Angel quickly picked up Xander, using it as an excuse to get a strong whiff of their new scents, and carried them both into Giles' office. Buffy laid Cordelia on the couch, so Angel carefully sat Xander down in the cushioned chair before they both walked out of the office. Once they were back in the library's main room, Buffy whirled on her watcher again.

"OK Giles, what the hell was with the lightshow and the shifting bodies, and WHY ISN'T XANDER XANDER-SHAPED ANYMORE?" Buffy yelled out.

"They smell like," Angel shook his head, "Upper level demon, and wiccan magic." Angel said, sitting at the table.

"Wiccan magic? Is it just left over traces or is it a part of their natural scent?" Giles asked, getting an idea as his eyes widened.

"A little of both actually..." He shook his head, "Like, something broke and left its traces, but that let their new scents out."

"Ah... that could be... yes..." He went into the stacks and came back with a leather bound book.

"Giles, do you know what's happened to Xander and Cordelia?" Buffy asked.

"Perhaps... it is... not likely, but given the effects we witnessed and the fact that they have been raised as humans... it is... conceivable." His eyes moved down to the book he'd brought as he quickly started to look for a particular entry.

"You see... while it is true there is only one Slayer, if she really were the sole protection of the world against the forces of darkness, then the slayer would fail because while she can stem the tide where she is..." Giles started.

"There would have to be an army of slayers to cover the entire world." Buffy said, her eyes widening.

"Quite." Giles said, "That said, the other forces that combat the darkness are a combination of paramilitary groups, groups of people who have survived or lost loved ones to it, solitary rogue demon hunters, and of course good witches or Wiccans." Giles said, "And that is were we come to the start of things."

"Witches come in two categories. Practitioners, who are not born with magical abilities, but can learn to cast spells and channel the natural magic of Gaia. They don't usually fight the darkness, though most are aware of its risk and, as followers of The Wiccan Rede, will defend another if they come across them in danger." Giles seemed to think a bit.

"The next though, are born Witches, or Magical Witches. These are Witches, usually of a family line, that are born with magical abilities ranging from seemingly simple, such as empathy or premonitions, to the truly powerful such as the ability to stop time or the ability of projection."

"These, though not always, are usually the ones you see protecting innocents, and ACTIVELY fighting the demons, warlocks, and evil witches. They are, also, often targets for the upper level demons and their masters. My theory, is that what Xander and Cordelia have had occur, is that a born witch was either seduced, or raped by a powerful upper level demon. Instead of vanquishing or slaying her children, she bound their powers both Witch and Demon, and then hid them away. That would account for why they would appear to go through a demonic puberty later than a natural one, especially if the binding was weakened before it broke completely."

"So... they're like... half good, and half evil?" Buffy asked, worried that she may have to slay her friend, and knowing she wouldn't be able to.

"Not at all, if I'm right... they are just as they've always been... perhaps with some more... violent instincts and heightened sense of desire, but they will still be able to CHOOSE to be good or evil." Giles said, finally putting the book down.

"Why did they look so much alike?" Willow asked.

"Oh..." Giles looked at his book again, then back up at everyone, "Yes, that... it is... rather unlikely that one group would contain one such person in their midst, let alone two. I'm... afraid I must conclude that... Miss Chase's parents have been hiding something from her. Whether that is their witchly and demonic natures, or that she is adopted, I could not guess. It is far more likely however, that she is adopted and their birth parent hid them here, either from their demon sire, or from other demons."

"AHHHHH!" Twin screams split the silence of the room and then the sound of explosions ripped through the air as flashes of light exploded from Giles' office. Then Cordelia came flying through the door, in all her demonic glory followed quickly by an identical Xander pointing at her.

"BUFFY! Blue demon girl! Slay it!" The excited teen yelled, before looking at his arm, "Why is my arm blue? And what's wrong with my voice?" He asked, his deeper and much more menacing voice finally registering to his ears.

Buffy quickly ran to check on Cordelia as the cheerleader was still laying on the ground, though she seemed to just be stunned. The blonde slayer kneeled beside the now blue skinned May Queen checking her for wounds.

"Cordelia, are you ok?" She looked over at Xander, "Xan, calm down. It's Cordelia, and... you look pretty much the same right now... like... twins." Before she turned back to Cordelia, "What happened?"

Cordy shook her head, wincing, "That's Xander?" She rubbed her chest where there was a slight burn mark that was quickly healing.

Buffy looked back at her friend who was now staring at his arms and down at his body, shocked at what he saw. Willow was moving shyly toward him, attempting not to startle the newly minted demon witch. She smiled at the shocked look on the demonic face, before turning back to Cordelia and seeing a very similar look there.

"Yep, and aside from being female, and having hair, you look identical, now what happened... why'd you come flying out of there?" Buffy asked, helping the other girl to her feet.

"I..." Cordelia shook her head at the strange husky sound of her own voice before continuing, "We woke up, I saw a demon, and I panicked. I threw my arm forward and an... energy ball launched at him."

Buffy raised her eyebrow, "You threw an... energy ball at him?"

"Yea, and he threw his hands up to block it I guess and a blue energy knocked it back at me... then the flying." Cordelia looked at her now healed chest, "Sure hurt too."

"I... I'm... I'm a..." Xander stuttered as he kept looking at himself.

"Xander..." Willow's voice brought the boy to looking at her, "You're a Xander. You just happen to have powers and look different now."

"You sure?" Xander asked, worried.

Willow just nodded, "Giles thinks he knows what happened..."

Xander and Cordelia looked up at that one, both of them locking their eyes on Giles, "Talk." They ordered in eerie synchronicity.

"Oh... yes... well... I think that Cordelia's parents lied about her being adopted, or have just never told her. Based on the effects we witnessed, it seems that you were both born half-demon, half-witch. However, one of your parents, most probably the witch, bound your powers to conceal you from scrutiny, and hid you on the Hellmouth where its malevolent aura would make you undetectable. Judging from your... very similar demonic forms, I'd wager that you are siblings... and most probably..." He gulped, "Twins."

"You're telling me you think I'm related to loser Harris?" Cordelia's eyes narrowed, the pupil-less white eyes looking truly menacing, especially when combined with the rows of needle pointed teeth.

"Uh... well..." Giles just gulped, "Perhaps you should look in a mirror together."

"WILLOW!" Cordelia yelled, "Get on the computer... hack into the orphanage records, or wherever you have to and find out if I'm adopted and related to Xander." Cordelia said as she grabbed the startled boy's arm and started dragging him through the empty school to find a mirror so they could look at each other.

"Well... that went well." Buffy said.

"Quite." Giles put in.

"Buffy? She said she launched an energy ball, and that Xander deflected, right?" Angel asked, a worried look on his face.

"Yea..." Buffy looked at him.

"The energy ball could be either demonic, or a witch's power. The deflection though, that's definitely a witch's power, and a powerful one at that. It can be used to deflect ANY form of attack. Physical, magical, it can even deflect spells and possessions, IF the witch is aware of it."

"Oh my..." Giles said.

"And she easily withstood her own power, so that means she's at least at the level of an upper echelon demon..." Angel continued, shaking his head, "Which means Xander is probably the same."

"Giles," Buffy looked at her watcher for translation of everything they'd said.

"Demons come in... classes and levels, so to speak. A vampire for example, is one of the lowest levels of demon. Great physical power, and it can increase with age, but they are rather easily dealt with compared to some other demons. They can heal quickly when injured, and continue to function despite the most grievous of injuries as long as they are nonfatal, but are no more resistant to injury or damage than a normal human really." Giles said, "A Fyarl demon is still a lower echelon demon but of a higher class than a vampire, being more resistant to physical harm, however it would be quite susceptible to an energy ball such as Cordelia claimed to cast."

"Cordelia took her own attack straight to the chest, it seemed, and was thrown by it, but seemed to take no more damage than a minor burn. That's at the level of, hmm... no demon you've faced to this point. They are more powerful than the Master was; magically, if not physically." Giles finished as Buffy's eyes widened.

Everyone turned to the door as Xander and Cordelia came back in, looking human once more, though both had thoughtful looks on their faces. Buffy and Giles walked toward them carefully.

"Xander, Cordelia?" Buffy asked, getting their attentions.

"You both look..." Giles started.

"Human again, yea..." Xander smiled lopsidedly at them, "We, can... shift between our human look and the... demon one, like game face." Xander pointed at Angel.

Giles nodded, "And you saw yourselves?"

"Yea..." Xander looked at Cordelia.

"It was..." Cordelia said, then huffed and headed toward Willow, "What did you find Willow?"

"Uh, well..." Willow turned and looked at them, "I managed to find a record of both your adoptions, and of when you were... put up for adoption." She rolled her chair back and pointed.

_Alexander Turner. Born December thirty-first at eleven fifty six PM._

_Cordelia Turner. Born January first at twelve-oh-five AM. _

_Twins put up for adoption on January first by parents, Cole Turner and Belinda Maclay. No reason given for giving up of children._

"Willow, see if you can find anything about them for me, please." Xander said.

"Yea, I wanna know to." Cordelia nodded.

"I should patrol," Buffy said, "Spike's still out there, and who knows what else is lurking around."

"Quite right..." Giles said looking at the others, "I shall, continue to research. I might be able to find information on your... demonic species, or reference to a witch's family line."

"Buffy, can I go out with you? I want to try to figure out these powers..." Cordelia said.

Buffy looked at Giles, "With you and Angel there to protect her if something goes wrong, I don't think it'd be a bad idea. Xander?"

"I'll stay here with Willow, and walk her home when she's done." He said. Nodding at his friend.

"Thanks Xan." Willow smiled.

"Alright, Cordelia, Angel, lets go. Lots of vampires to slay, so little time." Buffy said, leading them out of the library.

**... BtVS ... Charmed ... BtVS ... Charmed ... BtVS ... Charmed ...**

**Truck stop, in Utah**

**September 16, 1997**

Tara pulled into the shadows at the truck stop, turning her mother's car off and laying her head down on the steering wheel. Tears fell from her eyes as she thought about her mother. She'd felt it when a portion of her mother's power resettled inside her, knowing it had caused her ability to see and heal with her aura to change or evolve. All she could think of when it happened though was that her mother had died.

She reached over to her mother's book of shadows in the seat next to her and brushed her fingers over the tree of life embossed into the leather binding. She silently reaffirmed her promise to her mother, that she'd find and help her brother and sister. She looked up to the stars and whispered.

"I love you Mama," She smiled, tears falling down her cheeks, "I promise, I'll make sure they're good witches, just like you taught me."

She started the car again and drove into the night, headed west.


End file.
